Reggae charts

Review: It's always a good day when Al Kent is back with new music. This one on Gamm, Welcome To The Dub, finds him dubbing out some lush disco sounds. The title cut is a loopy and jazz-funk-infused number with lovely hi-hats and noodling chords all radiating joy and uplifting energy. 'Dubanova' then takes a more low-slung route with a sleazy guitar riff and nice live drums embellished with smartly overdubbed vocals coated in echo. 'Happiness & Peace' is a quieter affair with echoing hits and a meandering lead that encourages your mind to do the same.

Review: Soundway Records' marketing team recently described Lord Echo's hook-up with Mara TK, "Sweetest Meditation", as a "high-rolling summertime opus". It's certainly rather good and well worthy of a dedicated 12" single release. The wonderful, jazz-flecked, vibraphone-heavy, dub-disco style original version is featured alongside a brand new Black Ark style instrumental dub (appropriately titled "The Sweetest Dub") which is almost worth the entrance money on its own. There are two fresh remixes, too, from old pal Julien Dyrne and the Lord himself. His "Club Mix", completed on a recent European tour, pushes it further towards leisurely vocal deep house territory whilst retaining many of the elements that made the original version such a sun-kissed summer treat.

Review: Having devoted volumes three and four of the ongoing 'Heavenly Remixes' series to reworks by the late, great Andrew Weatherall, this double-disc follow-up offers a more eclectic selection of reworks drawn four almost four decades of Heavenly Recordings releases. As with its predecessors, it's a fantastic collection packed to the rafters with highlights, from the shuffling synth pop-goes-dubby nu-disco flex of Ewan Pearson's dub of Out Cold's 'All I Want' and the squelchy, acid-fired indie-dance excitement of Confidence Man's rework of The Parrots' 'Let's Go To Bed', to the psychedelic big beat brilliance of the Chemical Brothers 1996 take on St Etienne's 'Like a Motorway', the 80s new wave-goes-industrial funk excellence of Trevor Jackson remixing Raf Rundell, and the creepy late night techno hypnotism of Daniel Avery's inspired revision of David Holmes.

Review: Heavenly Recordings has always been a place where anything goes. From genuinely brave folk to dazzling disco, lush broken beat and jazz to alternative indie, the label has done it all. This fifth collection of remixes of label material focuses more on club sounds. It features a clued-up list of producers from the veterans like Ewan Pearson who adds his own unique spin to Out Cold's 'All I Want' via new school techno and noise specialist Daniel Avery and his take on David Holmes's 'Hope Is The Last Thing To Die.' Thrilling stuff, for sure.

Review: The rather legendary Heavenly label is always hard to pin down. It has put out a dizzying array of music that pretty much redefines what the word eclectic can mean. Right now they are in the midst of releasing a series of collections of remixes. Once again this one is an eye-opening and ear-popping journey through sound as a well-curated mix of artists bring their own perspectives and reframe the original tunes. They take them into new worlds and in between genres that are all best heard at night, in some well-loved space with the lights down low.

Review: Manchester's Hidden Spheres becomes the latest artist to showcase his cosmic, percussion-heavy reworks and re-edits on Talking Drums' offshoot Drum Chums. As you'd expect, the sometime Lobster Theremin, Moods & Grooves and Rhythm Section International producer is in fine form from the off, delivering ear-catching, mildly Balearic reworks of genuine obscurities. The highlight for us is 'Stolen', a version of an early South African kwaito number that's big on proto-house bass, densely layered percussion, lo-fi synth melodies and fine lead vocals. Over on the reverse, 'You Better Dance' is a deliciously dreamy, reggae-influenced, mid-tempo Afro-Balearic treat, while 'Together' sounds like a re-wire of an eccentric bit of mid-to-late '80s bubblegum brilliance.

Review: With a catalogue that contains a mixture of mind-altering chuggers, deep house, disco and Balearic beats, second-guessing what Craig Bratley will release next has always been a tricky proposition. Even so, joining forces with Brooklyn maverick - and honey-voiced singer - Amy Douglas for a spot of bleeping revivalist synth soul was one of them. Douglas is at her emotive best on the B-side original mix, singing sweetly about complicated relationships over a thrillingly lo-fi low-tempo groove rich in squelchy bass and 8-bit lead lines. The A-side 'Ashigaru Dub' is arguably even better, brilliantly re-framing the track as a heady, intoxicating and sub-heavy dub workout of the sort that Mad Professor probably knocks out in his sleep. In a word: inspired!